The Silver Tiger of Vale
by henshin legend
Summary: Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest. White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test. Black the beast descends from shadows. Yellow beauty burns gold. Silver the hunter stalks its prey. But remember -if you don't fight, you won't survive.
1. Who Was That Tiger In The Mirror?

Henshinlegend here to give you a new story. This is a RWBY fic with hints of Kamen Rider Ryuki. To clear things up now, there will be no going into the mirror world or mirror monsters say for one(that will be explained later), and no advent cards. I will take suggestions for semblance powers for the following: Jaune, Ren, Nora, team CRDL, and team CFVY. That's all, anything else I can think of will pe posted in the next chapter. I don't own RWBY or Kamen Rider, just the OC's and the minor tweaks to the RWBY storyline.

The Silver Tiger of Vale

Episode 1: Ruby Rose | Who Was That Tiger In The Mirror

_Smoke. Every direction you look, smoke. The ground was scorched beyond recognition and what once was a lush field surround by a seemingly evergreen forest was reduced to barren lands and charred husks of trees. The fire had yet to quell though, continuing to burn blackened stumps as if there was still life left to be leeched from the trees. Patches of brown grass still stood defiantly amongst the carnage. Through out the field and charred forest were the slain and rapidly vanishing corpses of Ursa and Beowulf Grimm. In the middle of this burning land and sea of bodies was the prone form of three silhouettes. Slowly, one by one they each rose._

_"__Shit, that hurt." Came a female voice from one of the silhouettes._

_"__Raia, are you okay?" Asked a second female voice from another silhouette._

_"__Yes Knight, I'm fine. How about you Imperer?" Responded a identified Raia._

_"__Same. Wait, where's my little brother?" Asked a third female voice by the name of Imperer._

_"__What? I thought he was with you." Said Knight worryingly._

_"Help!" _

"Legends," a female voice started, "stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past."

Images of gems glow green and fade to show simple pictures of a man rising from the earth before being surrounded by creatures, barey held back by warriors.

"Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness –creatures of destruction; the creatures of Grimm – set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void."

Black sets in, then suddenly lessens as a light grows brighter and brighter until a gem rises from it and lowers itself into the hands of man.

"However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named Dust."

The scene zooms out to show men shooting lightning, raising swords, and aiming rifles at the retreating beasts as a castle appears behind them.

"Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life."

The castle zooms out to show the world map, which houses other buildings until they disappear in flashes of white and the map is lowered to show the scattering moon over a city at night.

"But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die, and when they are gone... darkness will return."

A man by the name of Roman Torchwick and fourteen of his henchmen head down an alley from the shadows. They stop behind Roman, who reignited his cigar and grins before walking down the road, frightening nearby citizens as they make their way towards the shop _From Dust Till Dawn_.

"So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called 'free world', but take heed... there will be no victory in strength."

Roman and his henchmen enter the store, approaching the shopkeeper.

"But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten..." A deep, yet sagely, more masculine voice says.

"Things that require a smaller, more honest soul... But remember. If you don't fight you won't survive."

-Near From Dust Till Dawn-

It was nighttime, and people were still out. If you were to look around you would notice everyone just going about their business, but one person stood out in particular. This person was a guy about 16 or 17 years old. He had silver shaggy hair tied up in a ponytail coming down past the shoulder blades. His eyes were a beautiful neon ice-blue. He was wearing black combat boots, black pants and a white shirt with a gold stylized tiger head. Around his neck is a chain with a blue crystal pendant. On his left middle finger is a ring. This was Yami Woshai. As Yami continued walking down the street he heard a commotion. Looking around to see what it was he was rather surprised with what he saw.

-Near From Dust Till Dawn, Yami's P.O.V.-

Here I was, walking around and coming up to a store called _From Dust Till Dawn_, just minding my own business before I was shaken from my musings when I heard the sound of glass breaking. Looking around, I saw a red blur crash through the window of _From Dust Till Dawn_ tackling a man dressed in a black suit with red-tinted shades. Getting a better look at the red blur I saw, the person turned out to be female. She stood at 5'10, with a pale complexion, silver eyes, and black hair with red streaks. She was wearing a black outfit and skirt along with a red hood. And in her hands, was a red scythe.

Standing in the area where the girl crashed through the shop window, was Roman Torchwick, surrounded by several of his lackeys. A cigar was in his mouth and his cane-cannon was in his right hand.

"Okay," he started, "get them,"

Half of his lackeys charged at me, while the other half attacked the girl in red. Seeing as there were only seven charging at me, I brought out of my pocket a thin blue box that look more like a card deck, or something to hold cards, with a gold stylized tiger head. With the deck in my right hand I thrust my arm out like as if I was just showing them my deck.

Thinking that they had the upper had, two of the lackeys charged at me. Not even worried I continued to stand there looking at them. When they were close enough, I did a roundhouse kick sending them back. I immediately preceded to cross my arms followed by bringing the deck to my waist and sliding it into a slot in my belt.

"Henshin."

From the belt my body soon became encased by a black bodysuit with silver armor that had blue highlights. On my knees, arms, back and the sides of my belt were ports. On the shoulders were pads that looked like claws. My helmet had a visor reminiscent to that of a knight with a yellow jewel on the forehead. Overall it resembled a tiger head.

For a moment the goons were stunned at what they saw before gaining their composure and continuing with their attack. Soon, with a few well-placed punches and kicks, I took them all out.

I looked up to see how the girl in red was faring, and saw that she had taken out her enemies as well. Off to the side, climbing up a nearby ladder, Roman was escaping.

Grunting, I took off after him, the girl not that far behind me. We climbed up the ladder, following the path that Roman took in his escape. On top of the roof of the building, I knew that he had some kind of escape plan, he wouldn't have made it this far in his villainous career if he got caught easily. As I prepared myself for what could happen, I heard a rumbling sound come from where Roman was.

"Persistent..." he says, as a getaway Bullhead rises up and opens its hatch to allow Roman inside.

"End of the line, Red, Tin-Man!" he exclaims smugly, throwing a red Dust crystal at 'Red', aiming his cane-cannon in our direction.

Just as the blast from the cane-cannon was about to impact, a blonde woman jumped in the way holding a wand of sorts. Waving it once in the air, a giant purple crystal seal of sorts appeared, blocking the shot from Roman's cane. After the smoke from the impact dissipated, I saw that the woman was wearing a female business suit and a purple cape, rectangular glasses, and had emerald-green eyes. Waving her wand-like object once again, this time, causing the purple crystals to form into several streaks that shot out at the Bullhead, causing the pilot to struggle with controlling the aircraft. She then shot out a purple ball of energy which caused storm clouds to form and rain down light blue crystals on the ship.

Standing in the area that Roman once stood on the ship, was a woman in red with black hair and orange eyes. The mysterious woman formed a fireball in her hand and shot it at the blonde woman, causing her to form a purple protective barrier around herself. The mysterious woman then formed a fire pillar underneath the woman she was attacking, causing the female blond to jump away before it struck. The blond woman then formed a crystal arrow and shot it at the Bullhead. The mystery woman kept firing fireballs at the crystal projectile, but it kept reforming. The Bullhead shifted down leftward, causing the arrow to bounce off the side of the aircraft, forming three streaks to attack the ship again. The mystery woman shot out a fire pulse of some kind, destroying the crystals.

'Red' shifted her weapon from a scythe into its sniper mode and shot at the mystery woman. All of the shots were deflected by the woman's fire powers, eventually, she formed five fire pillars underneath our feet. I felt my body being pulled by some unknown force, narrowly evading the fire attacks. We watched as the ship flew away, I growled, knowing that Roman got away.

"You're a huntress," I hear 'Red' say to the blond woman, "can I have your autograph!"

As 'Red' said that I snuck away before anything else could happen. Off to the side in a window there was a huge white humanoid tiger watching them before vanishing from sight. Little did I know that it didn't go unnoticed by the huntress.

-Interrogation Room, 'Red''s P.O.V.-

"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly. You put yourself and others in great danger," the blond woman, now known to be Glynda, said.

"Well to be fair, they started it," 'Red' replied.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home. With a pat on the back..." she started, 'Red' started to smile, "... And a slap on the wrist,"

That last part she emphasized by swinging her wand at 'Red', who let out a small "Eeek!"

"But," she started, "there's someone here who would like to meet you,"

As soon as she finishes saying that, she moves out of the way to reveal a man with gray hair, shaded spectacles, a dark green scarf with a small purple cross-shaped emblem on it, an unzipped black suit, and brown eyes. In his hands he held a mug and a plate of cookies.

"Ruby Rose," the man starts, leaning in a bit as he continued talking, "you... have silver eyes,"

"Uh, um..." Ruby started, trying to come up with words

"So, where did you learn to to this?" he asked, gesturing to a screen that recorded the fight with Roman.

"S-Signal Academy," Ruby replies.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" he stated more than asked.

"Well, one teacher in particular," Ruby says.

"I see..." the man said, placing down the plate with cookies.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old crow..." the man states, after recovering from the surprise of the speed that Ruby ate the cookies.

"Mmmm! Thash muh unkul!" Ruby says with a mouthful of cookies, she shallows and wipes her mouth, embarrassingly, she continues, "Sorry, that's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal, I was complete _garbage_ before he took me under his wing. And now I'm all like- Hooowaaah! Witchaaaa!"

That last part she finished by making karate-style poses and noises.

"And what are you doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well... I want to be a Huntress," Ruby replied.

"You want to slay monsters?" the man asked.

"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon!" she exclaimed excitedly, talking faster and faster, "You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Hey I might as well make a career out of it!' I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, _gosh_, you know!"

That was followed by a small pause, the man and Glynda analyzing Ruby. After a few seconds, the man spoke again.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"You're Professor Ozpin, You're the headmaster at Beacon," Ruby said. The now identified Ozpin smiled.

"Hello," he said.

"Nice to meet you," Ruby says.

"You want to come to my school?" he asked.

"More than anything," Ruby said.

After exchanging glances with Glynda, who showed a disapproving look, followed by a "Humph", Ozpin turned back to Ruby.

"Well okay," he said.

Ruby looked like she had just hit the jackpot. After Ruby left Glynda turned to Ozpin.

"Why didn't you ask her about him? Was that really the best thing to do? Surely you can't be thinking about letting him come to the academy again are you?" Ask Glynda somewhat worried.

"I didn't ask her about him because I felt there was no need to. And yes I am planning on letting him come back, only if he wants to. I will not force this on him, especially after what happened, though I will admit that it would be nice if he came back… I think it would bring him the closure that he needs." Said Ozpin.

"I suppose so. I only hope this is the right thing to do. If he does decide to come, are you going to make him take the initiation test or just place him on a team?" Said Glenda in a voice suggesting she was less worried although still unsure.

"In the event he does decide to come back, I will have him take the test and place him on whichever team he works best with, that is if he encounters any of them. After all he'll probably just rush through, that way he doesn't encounter anyone." Said Ozpin in a tone suggesting that the conversation was over.

Glynda had walked out of the room leaving Ozpin to his thoughts. '_Yami Woshai, I'm so sorry for what happened. Even if you don't come back, I can only pray you find closure._'

-Aboard the Airship to Beacon, Yami's P.O.V.-

"Urrrggghhh," I said. Damn, I would never get used to these flying vehicles. They just had to fly up so high.

Looking around I saw a blonde, shagy-haired man who through up on some blondes shoes.

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross," I heard the blonde exclaim.

"Get- Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" Ruby exclaimed shortly after blondie's statement.

"Beacon Academy. Round two, ready…fight." I looked out the ship's window, smiling to myself before my fear of heights kicked in again..

"Why'd I have to look out the window!?"


	2. Shining Beacon Academy

Henshinlegend here to give you a new story. This is a RWBY fic with hints of Kamen Rider Ryuki. To clear things up now, there will be no going into the mirror world or mirror monsters say for one(that will be explained later), and no advent cards. I will take suggestions for semblance powers for the following: Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Team CFVY. Not gonna really use team CRDL if I even do use them so forget them.I don't own RWBY or Kamen Rider, just the OC's and the, after much thought, major~ish tweaks to the RWBY storyline.

The Silver Tiger of Vale

Episode 2: Shining Beacon Academy. Round Two...

Yami quickly got ahead of the throng of new students who began exploring and made his way to the auditorium. He entered the auditorium and moved to stand with a few other students. As he waited, Yami spotted a girl clad in white, she looked like that Weiss Schnee girl he had seen in the magazines, walking up to another girl in a black skirt and Ruby and yelling at her for something. Ruby leapt up into some blonde girls arms, who had assets that would make guys drool. Her name was Yang if he had heard correctly. Yami's eyes widened as he realized that it was Red from the battle against Torchwick. Yami considered going over there just to find out who she was, but decided against it.

Ever since the event, Yami had avoided making any close friends. The trauma he had felt made him reluctant to get close to anyone else. There was a chance that Red would go full-on fangirl, if she recognized him, because of the stunts he had pulled as well as his armor, and that would make it difficult to keep her at a distance from him. That is if her reaction to the huntress was anything to go by. Not to say that he wouldn't be willing to make friends, but the furthest he would go in a relationship with someone was the acquaintance level. He would often talk with people and get to know them a bit before dropping most contact with them for a while so that they would gravitate back towards their other friends.

Yami's thoughts were interrupted by the start of the welcome speech. Ozpin took the stage and began to speak. "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose... direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Yami took on a pained expression before turning his attention back to the stage when Professor Goodwitch began to speak. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight, and tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

'You too huh Oz? It's not your fault, it's mine. Then again it would be wrong to assume that he wouldn't be affected by that too.' Thought Yami as he made his way to the ballroom.

**-Beacon Ballroom, 10:00 pm-**

It was late and the ballroom was filed with sleeping bags and students to fill them. On one side were all the boys and all the girls on the other.

"So, what are you doing little sister?" Asked Yang as she plopped down next to Ruby.

"Writing a letter to my friends." Ruby responded while she continued writing.

Yang looked around for a while before speaking up. "Well, what do you think of all these boys?"

Taking a quick break from her letter Ruby picked up her head and looked around before saying, "I don't know. And I don't think that dad would approve."

"I know I do. Especially the silver haired guy, mmmm-mm, mama like what she see." Yang said as she looked at the pure definition of cuteness that was Yami's face.

Yami had just come out from the showers and was making his way over to the area that he had laid out his things. He wore black sweatpants and an grey t-shirt for pajamas. He noticed that many guys were choosing to show off for the ladies by being shirtless, and he wondered how people would react if they were to see him without one.

He was brought out of his musings by two voices simultaneously shouting "Oh not you again!" He turned to see the white-clad girl from the auditorium, who he began to refer to in his head as Frost Bite, facing off with that Yang girl. Red stood off to the side, and the girl with the black bow sat with a book in her hands next to them.

As the argument between Frost Bite and the busty blonde continued, Yami noticed that the girl with the bow was wearing something similar to some of the nightgowns that were worn by women back home. He decided that he should probably go and at least try to break them up. But at that moment, the lights went out, and Yami decided that sleep took priority at the moment. With the lights out, Yami drifted off, thinking about what this initiation would involve this time. Would it be like the last one? Would they have to fight other.

_Smoke. Every direction you look, smoke. The ground was scorched beyond recognition and what once was a lush field surround by a seemingly evergreen forest was reduced to barren lands and charred husks of trees. The fire had yet to quell though, continuing to burn blackened stumps as if there was still life left to be leeched from the trees. Patches of brown grass still stood defiantly amongst the carnage. Through out the field and charred forest were the slain and rapidly vanishing corpses of Ursa and Beowulf Grimm. In the middle of this burning land and sea of bodies was the prone form of three silhouettes. Slowly, one by one they each rose_.

_"Shit, that hurt." Came a female voice from one of the silhouettes._

_"Raia, are you okay?" Asked a second female voice from another silhouette._

_"Yes Knight, I'm fine. How about you Imperer?" Responded a identified Raia._

_"Same. Wait, where's my little brother?" Asked a third female voice by the name of Imperer._

_"What? I thought he was with you." Said Knight worryingly._

_"Help!"_

HL here, sorry for the short chapter but its the best I could do for what I have planned. I will NOT promise that the next few chapters will be long but I will do my best. Please leave comments, even if they are flames. Yes, I even flames help... but if its real bad I will call you out for that because I am petty. Until next time.


	3. Initiation

The Silver Tiger of Vale

3: Initiation. Ready...Fight!

Standing at the cliff with the rest of the new students, Yami sighed mentally. It was time to truly begin his career at Beacon again, and he wasn't really sure how it would go. Now that he was actually standing between Yang and some guy in overly-complex armor, it really struck home. There was no turning back, it was time to stop being a loner.

"For years, you have trained to be warriors," Ozpin broke into his thoughts, "Today, your skills will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest. Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams, Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be assigned teammates. Today. These teammates will be with you the rest of the time you are here at Beacon," the grey-haired man explained, eliciting a grown from the girl in the hood, "As such, it is in your best interests to partner with someone you can get along with."

Yami nodded along with the Professor, looking at his potential partners. Some blonde guy looked confused, while Ruby was getting progressively paler and more worried looking. Yang just shrugged, rolling her eyes at the nervous wreck next to her. Yami's mouth twitched up slightly, before he turned back to the older man with the perpetual coffee.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!" Ruby shouted, her voice cracking in shock.

Only Yami and Yang made any acknowledgment of Ruby's shout. He turned to look at Ruby, finding amusement in her worry. Yang was patting her sister on the shoulder, as the shorter girl looked positively terrified at the idea of being partnered with someone on such a random chance.

"As soon as you have partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest," Ozpin continued, "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your way, or you will die."

It was that blonde guys turn to whimper, getting a raised eyebrow from Yami.

"You will be monitored and graded for the rest of your initiation. However, our instructors will not help you," the Professor explained, "At the end of the path, you will find an abandoned temple containing several relics. Each pair will secure one relic, and return here to the cliff. We will regard each relic and your performance, and grade each pair accordingly."

Looking at the students, Ozpin's expression didn't once change.

"Any questions?"

To Yami the whole thing seemed simple enough...partner with someone, grab a relic, and get back to the cliff Just like last time. What was there to question. Of course, just because he didn't have any questions didn't mean no one did.

"Um...sir?" The blonde guy raised his hand hesitantly.

Ozpin proceeded to ignore him, "Good, now take your positions."

That blonde guy wasn't going to give up that easily though, "Um...sir, I've got a question. So this...landing strategy thing...what exactly does that mean?"

Rolling his eyes slightly at the question as people were launched off the cliff, Yami got himself in position. He crouched his legs, ready to jump.

"Are you dropping us off or something?"

"No Jaune, you will be falling."

Yami had to admire the deadpan delivery from the elder Professor. He couldn't even tell if the man was amused or not.

"I...see. Did you um, hand out parachutes or something?" Said the now identified Jaune.

"No, you will use your own landing strategy."

"That... that is a long drop." The now identified Jaune said nervous.

"Yes, it is a long drop... would you like some advice?" Ozpin asked Jaune for the first time.

"Really!? That sounds just great!" Jaune said with a thankful expression on his face.

"Don't die." Ozpin said, and Jaune looked worried.

After timing each students launch, Yami jumped right before the board sprung up and as he came down the board was up and pushed off to give himself more force as he was launched into the air.

"Don't diiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?" Jaune screamed when he was sent flying through the air with zero grace at all, just flailing around.

...

"He screams like a little girl." Glynda commented to Ozpin, having been the one sending the students flying the entire time. Ozpin merely sipped at his tea with a satisfied expression on his face.

The rush of the wind through Yami's hair precluded hearing anything from the other students, all of whom were falling in different directions. Or flailing helplessly, in the case of Jaune.

[I'm not gonna go into the landings and coming across the Nevermore and Deathstalker unless I get enough requests to do so. I'm just gonna skip right into the team placements. All you need to know is that Yami choose to observe them fighting the Nevermore and Death stalker at the ruins. Also don't feel like introducing the others as we all know them so yeah.]

Yami stood with his arms crossed as he listened to Ozpin announce the names of the team that had finished before he and the others had.

When it came time for Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren to step up, he looked on with a grin on his face.

Ozpin turned to regard the four teens that stood before him, though his gaze lingered on the blond male of the team for a little bit longer than the others.

"Jaune Arc. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the gold rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team JNPR (Napier)."

Nora cheered and hugged Ren, who was attempting to hide his own smile. Jaune was speechless and Pyrrha exchanged a congratulatory look.

Ozpin coughed to gain their attention again and continued, "The leader of which will be...Jaune Arc."

Cheers and clapping came from the audience while Pyrrha offered Jaune a smile and a pat on the back. Ren nodded at the blond and Nora gave him a goofy salute.

Walking off the stage, the now named team JNPR bumped into Ruby and her own little group. Ruby hugged Jaune and offered her own congratulations. The moment was ruined when Yang grabbed her fellow blond in a headlock and began to give him a noogie.

Escaping from Yang's grip Jaune turned to look at Blake. In return the quiet teen offered Jaun a small nod of respect as her congratulations. Weiss was the odd one out as she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"And finally, Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the black knight pieces. Also, while he didn't encounter any of you I feel that this is he best choice so with that I appoint Yami Woshai to your team as well. From this day forward you will work together as team RYWBY (Ryuby), led by...Ruby Rose."

Once more cheers erupted from the audience. Yang rushed to crush her sister in another of her hugs while Weiss looked oddly offended. Blake meanwhile stood there stoically, taking the news with her usual brand of apathy. Yami had a rather uncomfortable look on his face.

As both teams RYWBY and JNPR celebrated their successfully initiation and team assignments Ozpin looked on with a small smile.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be...an...interesting year," Ozpin muttered quietly to himself.

-after the team placement-

In the office of Professor Ozpin stood Yami and of course Ozpin.

"This is a mistake Ozpin. I can't work with them." Said Yami.

"Yami, I understand where you are coming from, belive me, I really do. Alas, this might just be the best thing for you, even if you don't see it. Please trust me." Said Ozpin.

"Fine." Sighed Yami. Its that or just go home.


	4. How To Become A Team

AN: I had originaly planned to have this chapter about Yami and the gang spending time getting to know one another as well as team JNPR followed by Yami introducing Destwilder but I can'tdecide how I want to do that so when I come up with something I'll post that as a flashback/reminesing chap. Also I personally feel that concidering that each team needs to get to know each other, they would be given some time to do that before they actually start classes, so I gave them 2 weeks and this chap picks up on the middle of week 3.

The Silver Tiger of Vale

4: How To Become A Team. The Start Of Something Great.

_"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."_ -Henry Ford

Yami sat in his first class, Grimm Studies. As the teacher, Professor Port, began calling students, the rest of RYWBY and JNPR came, apologizing for being late. Yami always woke up early and didn't want to disturb his teams sleep so he would go to class early. Suddenly, the professors voice boomed out as he began his lecture.

As the lecture continued, Yami watched as Ruby goofed off, earning a few silent chuckles from him and Yang. He noticed Weiss, was actually paying attention, getting aggravated at her team leader. As Port asked the class who among them thinks themselves to be a worthy hunter, Weiss raised her hand, "I do sir."

Port nodded, "Good, than step up and face your opponent." A couple minutes later, Weiss stood in her combat gear, with her weapon, Myrtenaster. As her team cheered her on, Yami looked worried when Weiss told Ruby to be quiet, but not her other teammates, 'I thought she said in the forest that she would be willing to work with others. Guess she's probably pissed at not making leader. She's just like you were.'

The cage opened and a boarbatusk ran full speed at Weiss. Yami watched on as Weiss recklessly attacked without thought, losing her weapon briefly in the process. As she reclaimed her weapon, Ruby shouted out, "Weiss, got for it's belly, there's no armor underneath-."

Weiss interrupted, "Stop telling me what to do." This silenced the class as Weiss used her glyphs to knock the beast on its back and stabbed it straight through the heart, killing it. As the body disintegrated, Port congratulated her, before ending the class. As Weiss left, Ruby quickly followed, Yami going a few minutes later after deciding to help them.

After a few minutes of searching, Yami finally found them, staying hidden as he listened to Weiss belittle Ruby for not earning her position, stating that Ozpin made a mistake before she stormed off. As Ruby looked on downtrodden, Yami went to help but felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back, he saw Ozpin with a small frown on his face, "I'll talk to Ruby and make sure she knows that I didn't make a mistake. I'll let you talk Weiss." Nodding, Yami watched as Ozpin approached Ruby, before heading out to talk to the heiress.

Finding Weiss sitting alone on a bench, Yami went and sat next to her. Weiss briefly noticed him, but said nothing, though he heard her mumble something about Ruby. Yami chuckled, "You really do remind me of her," Weiss looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I mentioned it last week, though you obviously didn't believe me, that I went here last year. As such, I was a on a team. Mia Brown, Olivia Black, and Violet Jackson. They were my teammates. We were team MOVY(movie).

Mia and Olivia were partners and Violet was mine. At first, Violet was pissed off that she wasn't chosen as leader. Eventually she got over it when she realized that things happen for a reason and that maybe there was a reason for her not being chosen as leader.

Around mid semester we were given our first mission to get rid of some grimm. During that mission she realized that her place was to be our thinker, planer and strategist of the group. My point is that just because you didn't get the part that you wanted doesn't mean you should be mad, instead focus on the fact that you are on a team and that there are things that you and only you can contribute."

Weiss took in everything. "Why are you telling me this?"

Yami chuckled and then answered, "It's not because I am nice. That's why I can't tell you to trust me. It's not like I can save everyone, right? But if I don't reach out my hand while I can, the regret would make me wish I were dead. I reach out my hand because I don't want that."

Weiss looked lost in thought as she considered his words. Leaving Weiss with his words, Yami left towards the cafeteria, briefly sharing a glance with Ozpin as he finished his talk with Ruby.

Later that day when everyone was in bed Weiss had apologized to Ruby.


	5. Rifts

The Silver Tiger of Vale

5: The Monkey And The Cat. Rifts.

_"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."_ -Martian Luther King, Jr.

We find the RYWBY crew walking around Vale, to be exact the docks.

"Oh the Vytal Festival! This is wonderful!" Weiss grinned. Grinned.

Ruby picked up on the weirdness of that action quickly enough, "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out..."

"Same." Yami muttered, getting a giggle from the leader.

Regardless of the context of the giggle, Weiss seemed to not care, "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world?"

Yami really didn't care about the Festival as much as Weiss seemed to. Not that his opinion was going to make her stop any time soon.

"There will be dances, parades...a tournament!" the heiress continued right on, "Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this is simply breathtaking!"

It was Yang's turn to scoff at that statement. She rolled her eyes at Yami, before looking at the oblivious heiress.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it boring," the blonde complained.

"Quiet you," Weiss shot back.

Yang just sighed, "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon at the stupid docks?"

In that, Yami was inclined to agree with his friend. Bad enough that he was stuck in Vale during the build up to the Festival. But having to go to docks was seemingly pointless. It wasn't like anything big was happening there, and it just made the trip seem like an even bigger waste of time to him. Only Weiss seemed interested in the docks too. Not even Blake showed any interest, and she normally had at least somewhat similar interests to the heiress. Which raised the question of just why Weiss was so interested in them. At least Vale had the excuse of the Festival.

"Ugh, they smell like fish..."

And Ruby wasn't the only one who plugged their nose either. Yami was as much a fan of fish meals as anyone, but not the smell of rotting fish. He was honestly surprised that Weiss wasn't showing any reaction to it. Considering her background and personality.

"I've heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving at the docks today," she answered the question in her team's minds, "and as a representative of Beacon, I consider it my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

Yami blinked, and leaned over to Yang, "Isn't she from Atlas?"

"Yup," the blonde replied, a grin taking over her face.

"I heard that!" Weiss glared at the unrepentant teens, "I may be from Atlas, but I am still a student of Beacon."

Blake's face held a smirk as she shook her head slightly, "Who only wants to be here to spy on them to have the upper hand in the tournament."

"You can't prove that!"

Yami raised an eyebrow at the heiress, "You know, you already have an advantage with what I've taught you, right?"

"Yes but..."

Before Weiss could counter that statement, Ruby diverted her team's attention.

"Whoa..."

Following where the leader was looking, Yami's eyebrow went even higher. He couldn't tell what type of shop it was from where he was standing, but it was clear that some sort of shop had been robbed. Not just robbed even...more like ransacked. A window was smashed out, and his sharp eyes could pick out that the inside was torn apart. Not to mention all the police tape around it. Clearly, something major had happened there. And it just had to be where they were. Which got a small sigh out of him, especially as it was Ruby who had noticed. Because it was only a matter of time until the others decided they wanted to find out what had happened. Yami sighed again as his team moved directly for the shop. It wasn't their problem, not by a long shot. Students weren't expected to solve a criminal case, that was the job of the police. Who clearly were investigating it anyway. That hardly stopped the rest of his team though.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked, once the little group reached the police tape.

A bearded officer looked up, not showing any surprise at the group of heavily armed teenagers, "Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week."

Walking away from the teens after that, Yami only barely heard the man add a second comment.

"This place is turning into a jungle..."

"This would mark at least three robberies of Dust shops. This is clearly an organized crime ring. No other group would attack just Dust shops in this manner."

Yami inwardly nodded, "Torchwick."

That theory was reinforced with what the other officer said.

"They didn't take the money again."

"I don't get it, who needs that much Dust?" the first officer mused.

His partner shrugged, "I dunno, an army?"

"You thinkin...the White Fang?"

It was possible the others didn't notice. But when the officer mentioned the White Fang, both Yami and Weiss turned to look at Blake. The former because he was experienced enough to pick up on little fluctuations in Aura, the latter because she was almost scarily good at sensory abilities. And right now, Blake let her Aura flash in a momentary bit of anger at the suggestion it was the White Fang. Why she did so was anyone's guess though...she couldn't possibly be connected to those idiots.

"I'm thinkin we don't get paid enough," the second officer finished, before both of them wandered off.

As they wandered off, Weiss scoffed. All attention- including Yami, who had been giving Blake a curious look -turned once more to the Heiress, "The White Fang...what a bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake shot back, hostility clear in her voice

Weiss blinked, clearly not understanding the hostility, "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus," the dark-haired girl countered.

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity from the face of the planet!"

"Well then they're very misguided!" Blake's temper was clearly flaring now, "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."

For their parts, the remaining members of the team just looked amongst each other with confused looks. The hostility coming from Blake at any insult to the White Fang was...more than a little odd, to put things mildly. Weiss could be wording things better, but to Yami at least, she wasn't wrong. The White Fang was far from a group of good guys. At least, not at the moment. There was a reason that humans were terrified of them, and it wasn't because the terrorists were bringing flowers to protests.

Ruby was the one who finally broke the silence though, "Blake has a point...besides, they never caught that Torchwick guy Yami and I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him?"

"I'd say it probably was him," Yami chimed in, "only Dust and not the money? Who else would do exactly what he was doing?"

"Yeah!"

Weiss just scoffed again, "Either way, it doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"What the hell is your problem?" Yami's scowl deepened.

"My problem?" Weiss parroted her own words from earlier.

"Yeah, you're acting like they're animals."

What was left unsaid, was that Weiss was acting like Cardin. The Heiress started to sputter angrily, only for a shout to distract the entire team. And make Yami strong tempted to facepalm.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!"

The RYWBY crew ran towards the dock once more. As the group of teens reached the dock, they saw a blonde teen with...a monkey tail...jump off the boat. And promptly use said tail to hang from a lamppost. If the situation were any less serious- what with the way this was not helping the case in convincing Weiss Faunus weren't bad -Yami would be tempted to snort. The very monkey-esque action, right down to peeling a banana, was amusing to say the least.

"Hey, a no-good stowaway would have been caught!" the Faunus shouted, bringing Yami back to him, "I'm a great stowaway!"

"Hey, get down from there this instant!" the bearded officer shouted.

For his part, Yami blinked, somewhat surprised the officers had gotten down there so quickly. Police were not trained at an academy like he was, so that was actually...somewhat impressive. It would have been rather more impressive, if the Faunus hadn't just replied by throwing his banana peel into the officers face. The teen didn't bother holding back a snort this time, as Ruby giggled next to him. It was amusing and funny to see. Not many would do something like that to an officer of the law.

Yami watched as the Faunus blitzed past the cops and ran right up the stairs. Not to mention right past his team...not even stopping once. Though he did turn his head and wink at Blake, who looked stunned by that.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition? There he goes."

Weiss was shaken from her own stupor by that, "Quick! We have to observe him!"

And promptly ran off after the fleeing stowaway. The sisters were quick to follow, but Blake still seemed rooted to the spot. Yami just sighed slightly, well-used to the impulsiveness of his teammates by now. Though, granted, it was highly unusual for it to be Weiss doing it.

"You okay?" he asked the one teammate still with him.

Blake shook her head, "Yeah. Let's go after them."

It was increasingly clear that the dark-haired girl was not okay. Yami wasn't sure still what was wrong with her today, but something about that other teen had shaken his friend up. Nothing for it though, because right now, they had to find the rest of the team. As such, both of them took off after the others, quickly catching up as they rounded a corner...

...only to see Weiss run head first into another girl.

Nice one there ice queen...

Shaking his head slightly, Yami followed the other girls as Weiss groaned about the Faunus getting away. That was the least of the problems at the moment though. While it was possible miss sensory abilities was too distracted, Yami was not. And the girl she had landed on had his attention, his full attention. There was something distinctly off about the redhead, and it had him feeling uncomfortable. Grimm didn't even make him feel discomfort in this way, but something about the girl Weiss still hadn't noticed did. In Ruby's words...it was 'weirding him out'. Because as the girl just lay where she had fallen, the feeling he was getting from her was almost skin-crawlingly unnatural.

"Umm...Weiss," the blonde pointed at the girl on the ground.

"Ahh!" Weiss jumped back, when she realized she had run into someone...who was now grinning at her.

"Salutations!" the strange girl said, grin never leaving her face.

"Uh...are you...okay?" Yang asked, sounding just as weirded out as Yami felt.

The girl on the ground just nodded, "I'm wonderful, thank you for asking!"

All of team RYWBY shared a look at that. At least it wasn't only him feeling odd now...

"You want to get up?" Yami asked, not quite able to keep his discomfort from his voice.

Luckily for him, this girl seemed oblivious to it, as she looked thoughtful before replying, "Yes!"

And promptly jumping to her feet, in a way that most Huntresses wouldn't have pulled off. This situation was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. What was it about his team that attracted strange things? Sometimes Yami seriously wondered about that...

"Hello, my name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Once more, the team looked amongst themselves. How to react to that...

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby," the leader dove right in as usual.

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

Yami looked at the girl, before sighing slightly, "Yami."

"You sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked, getting a snort from the silver head before Blake slapped her arm, "Oh, I'm Yang."

Penny just continued to grin, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You already said that..." Weiss replied.

"So I did!" and the grin never once faltered.

"Well, I'm sorry for running into you," the heiress continued, turning away. The rest of the team followed, as Ruby waved back at the strange girl.

"Take care friend."

It would be a lie if Yami said he wasn't happy to be moving away from the girl. He was getting more and more uncomfortable the longer he was around her. It was mean to think that way to be fair, especially since she seemed friendly enough. But he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong with Penny. He couldn't put his finger on it, but that hardly mattered when it came to his comfort. Best to just forget about her since, like the Dust robbery, it wasn't his problem. Someone would sort it out, hopefully.

"She was...weird," Yang commented, once the rounded the corner.

Yami just nodded, "Very weird. Her Aura felt off."

"It di-" Weiss began to ask, before she noticed something that had her sputtering and spinning around.

Namely, speak of the devil, and she shall appear in front of you.

"What did you call me?" Penny asked.

Yang blinked, and frowned, "Um...I'm sorry about that..."

"No, not you," the strange girl countered, moving to stare down on Ruby, "You."

For her part, all the leader could do was blink and lean back, her face showing shock and maybe a bit of fear, "Umm...I'm sorry...uhh...what did I call you?"

"You called me friend...am I really your friend?"

Ruby clearly didn't know how to react, as she looked over Penny's shoulder, "Umm..."

The other girls on the team were all crossing their arms and shaking their heads frantically. Blake even took it a step further and was waving her arms around to get the point across. For his part, Yami just sighed and facepalmed. He knew Ruby well enough by now...to know exactly what she was going to say to that question. Hence the facepalm, since he didn't really want strange girl hanging around. Nothing against Penny, but the way her Aura was just rubbed him wrong, to say the least.

"Sure," Ruby finally said...managing a snort out of Yami as the others all fell over on their backs in shock.

Penny, on the other hand, looked like her birthday had come early, "Sensational! We can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

As the others picked themselves off the ground, Yami tuned out the rest of the talk, in favor of turning to Yang. Blake was out of sorts, and Weiss and Ruby were busy with the strange girl. That left talking about the strange girl to the blonde.

"Hey Yang," he sidled up next to her.

"Huh?" the girl replied, dusting herself off.

"You notice her Aura?"

Yang frowned, "Sorta. I mean, I'm not at good at that as you and Weiss are."

"Doesn't take being good to notice this."

And it really didn't either. Yang focused herself on the strange girl, and blinked her lilac eyes rapidly.

"Damn," she whistled, "That is strange. Any ideas Mr. Expert?"

"None," Yami sighed in response, "I've never felt anything like it. Damn it..."

"Well, that's a prob..."

Before the blonde could finish her complaint, a rather more pertinent issue came up. Namely...

"You arrogant brat!"

Blake stomping off, leaving the others in a stunned silence. Yami and Yang shared a look, both having missed whatever set the girl off. Weiss on the other hand, seemed to know what had happened. And been the target of that shout, considering both the context and the way she acted.

"How dare you! I'm your teammate!" the heiress stomped after the other girl.

"What you are is a judgmental little girl!"

As the two launched into quite the argument, Yami and Yang moved next to Ruby. Who looked totally out of her depth, seeing the first real fight among her teammates.

"Well...something got them angry," Yami deadpanned.

Blake Belladonna

Yami's statement turned out to be quite accurate. At least in the case of Blake, who had been on the verge of a meltdown ever since the team had found that shop. Well, more accurately, she had been having a meltdown ever since Weiss had started insulting the White Fang at said shop. There wouldn't have been any problem beyond minor frustration at missing out on reading time, were it not for that actually. The shop was a nice mystery, but not one that Blake could really care about, if it weren't for Ruby bringing it up. Yami had seemed to be the same way if his eye rolls were any indication.

But then that...that...spoiled little brat had to insult the White Fang and Faunus in general. That officer suggesting they would raid a Dust shop like that was one thing. But the way that Weiss had latched onto that and refused to let go drove Blake mad. Even after both Yami and Ruby had pointed out it was far more likely to be Torchwick who had done the robbery. That had only served to deflect Weiss onto a more general rant. One she had not given up on since it started.

One that continued to this very second.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

"That is the problem!" and Blake couldn't understand why Weiss couldn't see that.

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity right?" the heiress countered, not realizing saying that didn't mean quite the same to Blake as the rest of their team, "the Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

And that did it.

"There's no such thing as pure evil!" Blake jumped to her feet, fists clenched at her side, "why do you think the White Fang hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin...people like you, who force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

Weiss scoffed, "People like me?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!"

After Weiss shouted that, the argument ground to a halt. Even Blake felt her temper momentarily flicker out, if in pure shock if nothing else. Why would Weiss consider herself a victim of the White Fang? She had never mentioned something like that before...then again, with her logical side coming back up if only momentarily, Blake could reflect she wasn't the best in telling her team things either...

"Do you want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?"

As she said that, the Heiress moved to the window. She was clearly warring with herself, over if she should say what was on her chest or not. Blake could understand that...even as she wondered what Weiss was actually talking about.

"It's because my family has been at war with them for years...war, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted on its back for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a child, I've watched family and friends disappear. Board members, executed. An entire train car full of Dust...stolen."

That last one hit Blake like, well, a speeding train. The girl could well remember the train...the train where she had finally cut ties to her old life. Where she had left behind the mentor who had been almost like an older brother to her. She could still remember his hand reaching out to her as she left him behind on the Dust train. Blake could still remember the damage the two had done to said train...and how it had almost ended in senseless loss of life. Things like that were her greatest shame...and it was not comfortable having that tossed into her face like this.

Not to mention, Weiss seemed to not be finished, as she shrugged off Ruby's attempt to comfort her.

"Every day, my father would come home furious," at that, the heiress clenched her fist angrily, "and that made for a very difficult childhood."

Spinning past Ruby, Weiss turned to the dark-haired girl in the room. Her eyes flashed with anger, as she looked up at the taller teen.

"That is why I despise the White Fang!" she shouted, "Because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

Sympathy for Weiss' situation or not, Blake felt her temper flaring back up.

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Even as she yelled that, Blake realized she had made a mistake. Ruby and Yang had their mouths drop open, even as Weiss backed up with a shocked expression on her face. Only Yami didn't show shock, he merely sighed and shook his head. Their reactions aside, Blake began to quickly freak out. She hadn't wanted to say that...she shouldn't have said that. Fear quickly rising to the fore, the girl shook her head swiftly.

"I...I..."

And bolted from the room. She vaguely heard Ruby yell after her, but that was not going to be enough to stop her.

I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that...


	6. Feel The Same, Shippu!

The Silver Tiger of Vale

6: Sharing Burdens. Feel The Same, Shippu!

_"The wind is fickle. It flows wherever it wishes to."_ -Kazama Daisuke, Kamen Rider Drake

Blake didn't slow down in the slightest until she reached the exit of the dorm. Leaving Beacon, she walked up to the statue at the center of the plaza. The teenage girl didn't know where she would go...but this might be a start. She would have to go to Vale if she really wanted to hide of course...but for now, Blake could at least look at something to distract herself. Or would have been able to, were it not for a feeling pricking at her senses. The Faunus girl could feel a power that was bright like the sun behind her, walking towards her slowly.

Since it wasn't Yami or anyone else she recognized...

An enemy? No, it doesn't feel hostile...

Blake turned around, and saw something that surprised her. Walking up with a cocky smirk on his face was the Faunus from earlier in the day. She wasn't expecting to see him, not up here. If anything, the girl wondered how he had even gotten up here. Beacon had security...how had he gotten past it so easily? If it hadn't been for Yami's unique training, even she wouldn't have noticed him. Though, to be totally fair, Blake could acknowledge she wasn't at her best at the moment.

"I knew you would look better without the bow," the other teen said, smirk widening.

"How did you get here?" Blake shot back.

The other Faunus shrugged, "I'm here for the tournament. Old Ozpin let me in earlier today. Name's Sun."

Ironic, considering how his power feels.

"Blake."

Sun grinned, "Well, nice to meet you Blake. So, why're you out here this late?"

"Why are you out here this late?"

"Oooh...good point," Sun scratched his chin, "I was exploring. Never been to Beacon before y'know?"

It made sense, Blake allowed, "So, Sun then...mind going down to Vale?"

"Oh, I can work with that."

"Blake!"

"Blake! Where arrrreee youuuu?!"

The constant yelling from the sisters wasn't helping.

"Weiss, Yami..." Ruby turned around, a frustrated look on her face, "You aren't helping!"

"Oh, you know who might be able to help?" the heiress replied before he could, "The police!"

"Weiss..." hearing a growl from the hooded girl was a rare one.

For his part, Yami just sighed, "The police would be pointless, considering she is a Huntress."

Yang sighed in the background, clearly just as frustrated as Yami himself was. Albeit probably for different reasons. Not that he was inclined to complain...misery loves company and all, after all.

"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story first," the blonde said.

"Thank you," Yami pointed at his friend, "She understands."

"Of course I do. Besides, the questions are getting on my nerves," Yang shrugged, turning a grin on Yami, "After all, it's my job to get stuff outta you."

"I knew there was a catch."

Ruby, despite the situation, giggled at the byplay. Weiss just scoffed and scowled remarkably like Yami as she walked past them. Yami sighed at the sight. Every time it seemed like they made some sort of progress with the girl she relapsed back into the ice queen persona. It was more than a little annoying, especially since non-icy Weiss was actually fairly fun to hang out with. Her seriousness was a nice balance to the sometimes manic tendencies of the sisters.

Of course, it was rare when Weiss wasn't annoyed with something or other.

"Well, I still think you'll all see I'm right," the Heiress said.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today."

Yami shuddered at the peppy voice. Not because of the voice or how it sounded, but because of the person it belonged to. He still wasn't used to whatever Penny was. Part of him doubted he ever would be.

"Gah!" Ruby shouted, "Penny, where did you come from?!"

"Hey guys, what are you doing?"

Weiss ignored the girl, while the sisters shared an awkward look. For his part, Yami was doing his level best not to focus on Penny too much. Her Aura just weirded him out far too much.

In the end, it was Yang who fielded the question, "We're looking for our friend Blake."

"She's been missing all weekend," Ruby added.

Penny nodded thoughtfully, "Oh, you mean the Faunus girl."

Understandably the team shared a look at that. Even Weiss blinked in surprise, as none of them had known Blake was a Faunus until she let it slip herself. And that had been after living with the girl for months. So how had Penny figured that out with just one meeting to work off of? That was more than a bit freaky. Which, then again, just added to the overall freakiness Yami felt about this strange girl.

"Wait...how do you know that?" Ruby spoke for the whole team.

"Umm...the cat ears?" Penny replied, pointing at her head.

It was a valid question. Even Yami himself had never noticed anything off about Blake's bow, other than her never taking the damn thing off.

"What cat ears?" Yang countered, "She wears a...bow..."

Silence followed that statement, as team RYWBY looked amongst themselves. The other three had varying looks of surprise on their faces. Yami also had a look of confusion. Albeit for something not related to Blake, as a tumbleweed rolled past. Through downtown Vale.

"She really does like tuna a lot..." Said Ruby

It took everything he had not to laugh at that deadpan statement. Leave it to Ruby to jump from 'cat ears' to 'likes tuna a lot'. Sometimes he really did wonder what went on in that head of hers.

"So where is she?" Penny spoke up again, seeming to miss the point of 'looking for Blake'.

"We don't know," Ruby replied sadly, "She's been missing since Friday."

At that statement, Penny gasped and barged right past the other team members to grab the team leader. Ruby flinched back, her silver eyes going wide as she looked shocked at the sudden movement. To be fair, Yami probably would have reacted the same way. Or activated his Destclaws, since he wasn't sure he wanted miss funky Aura touching him. Nothing against the odd girl...but still.

"That's terrible!" the girl said, "Don't you worry Ruby my friend. I won't rest until we find your teammate."

Oh damn. Time to get outta here.

Yami flashed away, as Weiss and Yang caught on and did much the same. Far slower than him, but even so, the three were gone before Ruby even realized it. Coming to a stop in front his other teammates, Yami waited for them to catch up to him. The girls were fast, but as he told Blake before...only the leader could hope to keep up with him at any real level. Nonetheless, they got far enough away from Ruby and Penny to feel comfortable.

Or, at least he assumed so, considering Yang broke down laughing once they stopped moving. Weiss sent a scathing look at the blonde, and sniffed as she looked back towards Ruby and her erstwhile 'friend'.

"Well, that was...fun," Yang finally got out.

Yami's eyebrow went up, "Nah. Still not sure what it is about her, but that girl freaks me the hell out."

"I know what you mean," Weiss added, her voice losing some of its harsh tone to be replaced with nervousness, "She feels nothing like the rest of us."

"You would notice, wouldn't you Princess?"

Glaring at Yang, Weiss just shook her head, "Not our problem. What is our problem is that I can't sense Blake."

It was the first time that the heiress had admitted to such. Yami scratched his head nervously, as both girls turned their full attention on him. It wasn't hard to figure out that if Blake had a way to hide from Weiss' almost unnaturally good senses, it had to come from the person who taught them how to sense in the first place. It just made sense...no pun intended. Yami wasn't Yang after all.

"Why're you looking at me like that?"

Didn't mean he wasn't going to play stupid. He still didn't want to train the hiding ability. It didn't really work well with Aura...the entire point of Aura was to extend your power out as a shield or offensive weapon. Pulling it in to hide didn't leave one defenseless...but it certainly didn't help. And the last thing Yami wanted was to get his friends hurt...which this could do. He had only told Blake because there wasn't a choice in the matter. He didn't want to teach the rest of the team unless they forced his hand.

Was he overprotective? Most likely. But after what happened to his last yeay...he never wanted to see anyone close to him get hurt again. And despite all odds, his team were the closest people to him outside his family. If not even closer.

Weiss was the first one to speak, "Don't play innocent you. Not even Ruby could pull off an innocent act that would work here. I know you had to teach Blake how to hide."

"For once, I do kinda agree with her," Yang sighed, looking like it was painful to admit that, "You taught us how to sense each other Yami. Not that hard to believe you can do the opposite. Cool, but not hard to believe."

All the teen could do was sigh, "Yeah, I can teach you. Not now though."

"Aww..." Yang pouted.

"For once, I agree with him," the heiress parroted the blonde, getting a grin from her, "I am far more interested in finding Blake right now."

And just like that, the mood was quite effectively killed. Not even Zangetsu could kill something so easily.

"You don't care if she's our friend, do you?" Yang scowled, getting a facepalm from Yami...was everyone going to mimic him?

It was notable that she didn't say 'you don't care if we find her' though. Either Yang had a lot of faith in the two walking sensors of the group...or she knew Yami knew very well where Blake was. Considering it was Yang...the latter was rather more obvious. She always had been able to see through him easier than anyone else could. And he still had no idea why that was the case...

Weiss was glaring at Yang, who was glaring back. God, would have have to break up a...cat...fight?

"I do care," the heiress brushed her hair out of her face, "But that does not mean I can overlook what she said. The innocent never run Yang. And I can't easily forgive the White Fang...even if she's our friend."

With that piece said, the white-haired girl started walking off in a random direction. Yami and Yang just shared a look, before sighing in unison. Weiss was in quite the mood, and that was putting things mildly. And the thing was, she wasn't necessarily wrong in how she felt. Yami didn't know how he would react if he were in her situation, but the fact did remain that she had valid reasons to be more than a little unhappy. If even half of what she claimed about the White Fang and her family was accurate, it would be enough to make anyone angry.

That being said, Weiss was a bit out of line in taking it out on Blake. Whatever else was the case, Yami knew for a fact that Blake wasn't in the Fang anymore. And clearly, she regretted ever being in it. So taking out her frustrations on the Faunus was pushing Weiss a bit further into the 'annoying Yami' category.

"What about you?"

Blinking slightly, Yami saw an oddly worried look on Yang's face, "Huh?"

"How do you feel about all this?" the blonde clarified, waving a hand around.

Yami sighed, "I think Weiss is right to be a bit annoyed. If even half of what she said about her family is right, anyway. I can understand that feeling."

"You can?"

"Yeah..." Yami wasn't about to clarify though...talking about last year was still a sore point, "That being said, she's taking it out a bit too much on Blake. She's our friend, and before this came up those two actually got along fairly well. So yeah, I think Weiss is taking things too far."

Yang just shook her head slightly, leaning against the wall as the heiress in question looked around with a frustrated look on her face. For her part, the blonde just looked...lost. It wasn't something Yami had seen on her face before.

"Blake was good at keeping secrets y'know?" Yang spoke softly, "I'm her partner, and I didn't really know her."

Yami didn't say anything to that. He just leaned next to his friend, who sighed softly. Clearly she needed to get this off her chest, and he was the only one nearby she could talk to. Clearly she wasn't going to talk to Weiss at the moment.

"I didn't notice anything either," Yami finally spoke up.

"Yeah, you've been a bit busy," the blonde countered.

A shrug answered her, "Maybe, but Blake was just really good at hiding what she is."

"Yeah...you're probably right," Yang clearly still felt bad on some level, but she pushed herself from the wall anyway, "Let's find her. I have some things I need to say to her!"

"Not surprised..."

Hearing that, Yang turned around, "You say something?"

"Nope!" Yami quickly replied.

"Thought so."

With that said, the friends moved to catch up to Weiss. Time to get back to searching...even as Yami himself kept a close eye on what flickers of Blake's energy he could easily sense...

"You were a member of the White Fang?!"

"Yes...I was a member for most of my life actually."

"Guess that explains why you ran from Beacon..."

Blake sighed softly at the shocked look on the other Faunus' face. Sun was a good guy...friendly enough, and didn't seem to care about what she was. But even he had shown quite a bit of shock at her revelation in regards to being a member of the White Fang. Not that she could really blame him. Admitting to being a former member of the most infamous terrorist organization in Remnant would probably shock anyone really. Aside from Yami anyway...but the girl had never seen anything really shock her one male friend. Other than Yang's spar anyway, but that had been a one time thing that shocked everyone but Ruby.

In any case, she was glad that Sun didn't seem to judge her for it at least. Now that he was past the initial shock the other teen was just watching her. Not in a strange way either, more like he just wanted answers. And Blake was willing to give those answers. It may seem odd that she was willing to spill her darkest secret to a stranger...but Sun was a Faunus too. And more importantly, there was something about him that just screamed 'you can trust me'. Kind of like Yami in that respect.

"You have to understand," Blake finally continued, "Back then, the White Fang was different. After the war, it was supposed to be a symbol of peace...of unity...between humans and the Faunus. It certainly wasn't a terrorist organization. But even after the war..."

"We still weren't treated equally," Sun finished, getting a raised eyebrow from the girl, "Hey, I do pay attention in history thank you."

Rolling her eyes, though a small smile tugged at her lips, Blake nodded.

"Yes, we weren't. Because of that, the White Fang started the protests. It was peaceful, nothing more than normal protests. And I was there...at the front of every rally, holding a sign at every protest. You could say I was born into the White Fang really."

After she said that, Blake's eyes lost their focus...her mind going back to those old memories. It had been...nice...in a way. Having the family that was the White Fang at her side. Even if they spent most of their time protesting, something that young Blake hadn't really understood, it had still be nice. Until...

"But it didn't work. Humans still saw Faunus as beneath them, barely above animals," her fist clenched unconsciously at that statement, "So, five years ago, the original leaders stepped down. New ones took their place...new leaders, with a new plan."

Sun grimaced slightly, "The terrorists."

All Blake could do was nod in reply to that. There wasn't any way to describe it differently anyway...however much she hated to admit that.

"Yes. Our peaceful protests were replaced with organized attacks..." her voice trailed off, before the Faunus girl sighed and continued on, "We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us. Hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor...and the worst part was...it was working. We were being treated equally, but not out of respect...out of fear."

There wasn't anymore to say on that subject. Blake still regretted those days...she missed Adam, but she didn't miss their attacks. Especially now that she really thought what it did to others. Fighting Grimm was one thing. She really hated using her skills to harm other humans or Faunus...it felt wrong now. Sun luckily didn't seem to judge her for it though. Which was...nice.

And so, she continued talking, "So, one day I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. Instead, I would dedicate my life to being a Huntress...protecting others, not harming them. So here I am, a criminal hiding in plain sight, all with the aid of a little black bow."

Her ears twitched slightly at the end, almost out of shame. Her actions may have gone in the right direction now, but it was far from easy to forget what she had done when she was with the White Fang. She didn't want to forget, on some level. It was a shame, but it showed her she could come back from the edge. It showed her what was wrong, and how she could change for the better. She wasn't proud of what she had done by any means, and still feared it coming back to bite her at some point in the future. How could she not?

But...at least now, she could do something to improve the world.

"So..." Sun broke into her thoughts, "Have you told your friends any of this?"

Once more, all Blake could do was look down. A flash of regret flew over her face, hung low towards the table. She knew she should have told her team this, a long time ago. Weiss may not have reacted well, but if Yami were any indication the rest of team RYWBY would have accepted her. Hell, it was likely that Ruby would have just hugged her and started asking a million questions about what being a Faunus was like.

"No." She answered.

Sun shook his head slightly, "Well, what are friends for if not telling each other things?"

"I know. I've been running and hiding from my past for so long..."

The other Faunus just sighed and got to his feet "Well, time to stop running right? What's the plan now?"

Blake sighed herself, as she started to walk away from the little cafe, "I still don't think the White Fang is behind the robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before."

"Hmm..." Sun hummed, "What if they did? I mean, the only way to prove they didn't do it, is to go to the place they would be if they were doing it...and not find them there. Right?"

Holding back a smirk at the way Sun threw his fingers out at the end, Blake put thought into his words. He did have a point in all honesty. The only way to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the White Fang wasn't behind the robberies- Blake was still convinced it was Torchwick...both Yami and Ruby had brought up good points in that regard -was to catch whoever was doing it. But there were dozens of Dust shops in Vale...how would they find the right one? Even with the sensory abilities that Yami had taught her, it wouldn't be much good without the knowledge of where to look.

And she said as much too.

"The only problem is, I would have no idea where to look."

"Well, when I was on the ship, I heard the crew talking about a huge Dust shipment."

"How huge?" Blake asked, gears turning in her head.

"Huge," Sun replied, throwing his arms out, "Big Schnee company freighter."

"You're sure?"

Even as she asked that though, Blake felt her stomach drop out from under her. If there was anything Weiss was correct about, it was the White Fang's blood feud with the Schnee family. Even if they weren't attacking the shops...

They may very well attack the Schnees.

It was nighttime by the time Blake had gotten to a position where she could overlook the docks safely. She flattened herself to the roof of a warehouse, sharp eyes scanning the dark. Times like this, being a Faunus- especially a cat-Faunus -was quite useful. She could see far better out at the dark area than any human could. Not that it would help her much if Sun was wrong and nothing happened here. She could tell that he was right about this being a bunch of Schnee Dust, but if anyone would attack...

"Anything happen?"

Speak of the monkey...

"No, nothing," Blake replied easily, "They've offloaded all the crates...but now they're just sitting there."

"Cool," Sun nodded, sticking out his hand that held...an apple, "I stole you some food."

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" what could she say...it was the first thing to come to mind.

All the other teen did was raise an eyebrow, "Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?"

In response to that all Blake could do was give him her very best glare.

"Okay, too soon."

The situation might have become amusing with that. If it weren't for the spotlight that suddenly shone down on the ground around them. And the sound of engines...the engines of a transport. Snapping her head around, Blake saw a standard old transport come in for a landing, it's lights scanning everywhere but where the two Faunus were camped out. Lucky too, considering the pilot clearly didn't notice either of them. The transport came down completely, lights shutting down as the engines whine became a steady purr as it idled. But that was far from Blake's attention, as the ramp came down.

And down it came a figure in a familiar white uniform...with red wolf with three bloody claws emblazoned on the back.

"Oh no..."

Sun picked up on her mood quickly, "That them?"

"Yes, it's them."

Blake hadn't wanted to believe it was the White Fang. It didn't make sense for them to attack Dust stocks like that. But the evidence was staring her in the face now...there wasn't any room to deny it now.

That being said...

"Hey! What's the hold up?!" a male voice shouted, quite effectively gaining Blake's attention. For the source of the voice quickly revealed...Roman Torchwick, "We're not the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals pick up the pace?"

Torchwick? It can't be...the White Fang would never work with a human. Any human! So why would they be working with him?! He's the worst sort of human there is!

Acting entirely on instinct, Blake got to her feet and drew Gambol Shroud. Sun blinked, and reached a hand out to her.

"Hey, what're doing?!"

"This isn't right...the White Fang would never work with a human. Especially not one like him."

With that piece said, Blake jumped to the ground, and sprinted towards the landed transport. The darkness, her natural stealth skills, and what Yami had taught her all came together. Together in a perfect storm of 'ninja awesome!' as Ruby would call it. What mattered more to Blake, was that she was quiet and undetected as she snuck up on the horrible man. Who had no idea she was there, as he berated a member of the White Fang for some reason. Blake hardly noticed or cared what he was saying. What was important...was that her blade was at his neck, her free hand holding his hands together behind his back.

Torchwick grunted at the sudden movement, looking over his shoulder before rolling his eyes. Even in this situation the man managed to do that?

"Nobody move!" the Faunus shouted, bringing Gambol Shroud's blade in close to the crook's neck.

"Whoa there, take it easy little lady," Torchwick said, his voice not showing any nervousness at his predicament...or the fact that even Aura wouldn't protect from a point-blank cut to the jugular.

In response, all Blake did was pull her bow free, revealing her cat ears to the White Fang members. They backed up, shock clear even with the Grimm masks blocking their faces.

"Brother's of the White Fang!" the young girl shouted, "Why are you aiding this scum?!"

There wasn't an answer from any of the Faunus. The answer came from Torchwick, who chuckled until Blake's blade came closer to his neck. At that point he turned slightly to see her better, maddening grin welded to his face. It was the opposite of the other orange haired man she knew on ever level.

"Didn't you get the memo kid? The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture."

Glare on her face, Blake ground out a reply, "Tell me what your little operation is, or I'll put an end to it."

Torchwick just continued grinning, "I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation."

As he said that, two more transports came into sight. Blake grimaced as they buffeted her with their engine's, spotlights shining directly on her. With all her attention focused on the transports, she didn't notice Torchwick moving either. He broke her grip on his hands, making Blake look down only to have her eyes widen. His cane opened up, the flash of a shell flying down it. Quickly pushing her Aura to full on instinct, Blake jumped back as a decent explosion blasted into the ground. Rolling to a halt, she groaned slightly.

Stupid...so stupid of her. She should have remembered Ruby mentioning he had a gun-cane. If she had gotten it out of his hands...

Damn!

The cane in question was aimed directly at her, forcing the Faunus into a roll as Torchwick fired on her once more. Explosions blossomed behind Blake, as she jumped back. That thing was quick...

"No!"

A shell flew right at her face, forcing Blake to tap into her semblance. A shadow clone formed, propelling her back at the same time as it took the shell. Grimacing at playing her hand so early, the Huntress-in-training quickly sprinted behind a crate. Panting softly, she focused on her training...both what Adam had taught her, and what Yami had taught her. She was going to need every edge she had to win against this many White Fang members on her own. Not to mention Torchwick...

"Leave her alone!"

Sun? He can't be...

Ducking her head around the crate, Blake's eyes widened. Sun was spinning around, a staff in his hands as he knocked other Faunus aside left and right. She almost couldn't believe it...clearly he was a fighter, if him coming on that ship was any indication. Seeing it was another story though. Her eyes widened further though, when he charged at the criminal. Sun's staff transformed into...wired shotguns?

"It doesn't matter," Blake shook her head, jumping into the fray as shells flew back and forth between Sun and Torchwick. Bringing Gambol Shroud down on the cane that the human used, she grimaced. He shouldn't have caught that...not that it mattered, "He's mine!"

"That could work." he muttered, before looking up.

Blake followed his eyes, both her sheath and blade ready to fight...only to have her own eyes widen at what he was now aiming at. A shell flew from the cane, hitting a dangling crate. Acting on pure instinct, Blake pulled Sun out of the way. The two came down in a tangle of limbs, as Torchwick grinned.

"I don't care what it was you used," the man bragged, "You lose kitty cat."

The crook's hand tightened on the trigger of his cane, only for a voice to distract him.

"Hey!"

It took a lot to make Yami angry. A lot. He wasn't like Yang. His temper was slow to rise, and very few things could set it off. Seeing Roman Torchwick holding his weapon at Blake's head was certainly one of those things. As such, he had Destvisor on his shoulder. The orange-haired man down on the ground just looked amused though, as he took his eyes off Yami's friend. He outright laughed at him actually, making Yami frown.

"Oh hey Tin-Can! Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Ruby, are these your friends?" Penny's voice spoke up behind her.

Turning his head, Yami waved a hand, "Guys, stay back."

He turned back to Roman and said, "No one attacks my friends," Yami growled, barely loud enough for the teen to hear.

Surprising Ruby, Penny walked forward, "Stay here Ruby."

Her mind quickly going into overdrive, all Ruby could do was gape as she looked between her friends. What was going on?!

"Penny, wait!"

All she got in response to that was the strange girl looking back, a grin on her face, "Don't worry Ruby...I'm combat ready."

Yami stayed silent as he pulled out his deck. Destwilder appeared next to him. Yami trusted out his deck as he shouted, "Henshin!"

Once in his armor his ax went into dormant form and activated his Destclaws. He flashed toward Torchwick -faster than Ruby could follow. For her part, Penny had swords come out of her back- which was awesome! -as she jumped to the ground. Ruby ran to the edge of the warehouse, and watched with wide eyes. The girl was swinging her swords around, the spinning blades blocking attacks and sending the enemy flying around like dolls. Every movement of her arms sent the blades flinging forward, and every movement of the blade knocked someone aside.

This is awesome!

Geeking out aside, Ruby blinked as she saw Penny send her blades bowling over a group of at least a dozen people. Not even slowing down, she pulled them back and looked for more targets. Not seeing any in sight, Ruby turned her eyes towards Yami. As he continued to fight, he and Destwilder were surrounded by a sudden wind. As the wind picked up, his armor began to change as did Destwilder. When the wind died down Yami stood there in a completly different armor

The shin guards were gold, the boots were white and looked lige animal feet with the claws gold. The armor on his arms looked like His Destclaws but without the claws. Where the silver had been was now white while the black and blue were gold. On his chest was a white tiger head with gold accents and red eyes. His shoulder pads were now in the shape of his Destclaws. His helmet looked like the tiger head on his chest but he still had the same visor. In his hand was a giant verson of his Destvisor but it had two tiger heads with giant blades coming out of both mouths. Little did anyone know, Yami had just awakened his semblance, Survive Shippu.

Destwilder hadn't changed much. The only changes were the white in place of the silver and gold in place of the black. With this new form came the birth of Deststormer, the power of Shippu coursing through him too.

"Oh my god!"

Yami and Deststormer were easily keeping up with Torchwick. Every swing of the cane was met by one of Yami and Deststormer's swipes. Every shell was cut out of the air, every taunt was ignored. It was almost like he was toying with him...was this what Yami was really capable of? Why hadn't she seen him fight like this before? Why didn't he use this power before? Why hadn't Destwilder do this before either? It was then that his words came back to her...

"No one attacks my friends..."

Fighting the sudden rush of heat to her face, Ruby blinked her eyes slowly.

"Is he really that protective?"

If the way he was fighting was any indication...

Deststormer swiped and missed Torchwick who got into a transport attempting to escape.

"Get back here you bastard!"

But no amount of yelling would work, when Torchwick took to the sky in the remaining transport. Smoke flew from it, blocking any attempts at attack. Not that it was needed...flaming wreckage and bodies littered the ground of police sirens began to sound in the background. Ruby jumped down to the ground, her mind still overloaded by everything that had just happened. She had seen Yami in his full 'protect' mode...and it still had a flush in her cheeks. Penny had proven to be even stranger than she had thought. And Torchwick had been behind the attacks. There was so much going on, it was little wonder she was overwhelmed by it all.

Since Torchwick escaped Yami deactivated his armor followed by Deststormer changing back to normal before going back to the Emerald Forest where he stayed most of the time. Running up to Yami, Ruby saw him sighing as he put his deck in his pocket. The teen looked out at the flaming debris, his eyes illuminated by the flames. Ruby blinked as she saw a hint of dark blue in his eyes, before he shook his head and looked back at her. A tired smirk was on his face, like he hadn't just been toying with a notorious criminal. Maybe it hadn't been as easy as it looked? But Yami was stronger than anyone she knew...except Yang, at least.

"You okay?" he broke into her thoughts.

Ruby nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm totally fine! That was awesome Yami, I've never seen you fight like that!"

The other teen nervously scratched his neck, "Yeah, well...no one attacks my friends and gets away with it. I'm just annoyed he got away."

Unable to get anything out of her friend, all Ruby could do was wait. Blake had told her everything- and shown her absolutely adorable kitty ears and Yami was sitting down exhausted -but now the team was just waiting for Weiss and Yang to show up. If there was one thing that was true, it was there was no way Weiss hadn't noticed the battle. Not with her abilities. Something confirmed as the sound of her heels hit the ground.

Ruby jumped to her feet, trying to cut off the heiress before something bad happened.

"Weiss, it's not what you think! She explained everything! She doesn't really wear a bow, she actually has kitty ears and they're kind of cute..."

The heiress just ignored her, walking up to the Faunus. Weiss and Blake stared each other down, the tension clearly visible in the air.

Blake was the first to break said silence, "Weiss, I want you to know I'm no longer associated with the White Fang..."

"Stop."

That one word brought any conversation to a halt, as the white-haired girl stared down her dark-haired counterpart, "Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you? 12 hours. And in that 12 hours, I've had plenty of time to think. And you know what? I don't care."

"You...don't..."

"You're not going to run off and join them are you?"

A head shake was that question's answer, "Of course not!"

Weiss smiled ever so slightly, "Then I don't see the problem. You're our friend...just promise me this. The next time something comes up, come to us...not someone...else."

And with just a handful of words, team RYWBY was on the mend. The leader could only grin at the sight, joined by Yang and a small smirk from Yami. The team was back together, and that was great for all of them.

"Yeah! Team RYWBY is back together!"


End file.
